Water muffler



May 22, 1956 w. H. ARNOLD ETAL WATER MUFFLER Filed Dec. 27, 1952INVENTORS. WILLIAM H. ARNOLD BY SAMUE L H. COTTRELL ATTYS.

United States Patent WATER MUFFLER William H. Arnold and Samuel H.Cottrell, Battle Creek, Mich., assignors to Clark Equipment ComparBuchanan, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application December 27,1952, Serial No. 328,222

6 Claims. (Cl. 181-52) Our present invention relates generally tomufilers and, more specifically, is directed to a rnufiler which employsa liquid for cooling the exhaust gases of a prime mover.

It is an object of our present invention to provide a muffler whereinthe rate of evaporation of the cooling liquid employed therein ismaintained at a minimum.

it is another object of our present invention to provide a mufllerwherein the rate of absorption of droplets of the cooling liquid, by theexhaust gases passing through the mufller, is maintained at a minimum.

It is a further object of our present invention to provide a mufflerwherein the cooling liquid contained therein will not be dischargedthrough the inlet or outlet ports of the mu'liler when the latter isvibrated.

In order to accomplish the foregoing objects, we provide a mufilerhousing into which extends a vertical cylinder closed at its upper end.The mufller housing is partially filled with a cooling liquid, such aswater. The liquid is free to rise in the cylinder and assumes a levelcommon with the level of the liquid in the housing. An inlet tubeextending into the cylinder, at the upper end thereof, directs exhaustgases toward a deflector disc which has the effect of swirling the gasesacross the surface of the cooling liquid contained in the cylinder. Thegases are then permitted to pass upwardly and out of an exhaust tubeextending from the cylinder.

Since only the surface of the water within the cylinder is exposed tothe exhaust gases, there is maintained a high ratio between the totalvolume of water contained in the muitler housing and the surface of thewater exposed to the exhaust gases. it is because of this high ratiothat first, the rate of evaporation of the cooling liquid in the mullleris maintained at a minimum and, second, the rate of absorption ofdroplets of the cooling liquid by the exhaust gases passing through themufiler is maintained at a minimum. Furthermore, by keeping the surfaceof the cooling liquid in a relatively small and confined area, largewavelets in the liquid are prevented from being formed upon vibration ofthe muffler, and, thus, the cooling liquid is prevented from beingdischarged during splashing, through the inlet or outlet ports of themufller. in addition, the deflector, which is maintained within thecylinder, serves to prevent the gases from impinging directly on thesurface of the cooling liquid. If the gases were permitted to impingedirectly on the surface of the cooling liquid, before being retarded bythe deflector, the etfect would be to cause the liquid to rise on thesides of the cylinder and be discharged through the inlet and outletports.

Now, in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner ofconstructing and using water mufflers in accordance with the principlesof our present invention, we shall describe in connection with theaccompanying drawing, a preferred embodiment of our present invention.

The single figure of the drawing shows an isometric view of the watermuffler of our present invention.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown the Water mufller of ourpresent invention which comprises a generally rectangular housing 10.The housing 10 may be fabricated of sheet metal with a suitable covermember 11 being secured along the upper edges of the housing or tank 10.A cylindrical opening is formed in the cover member 11 and extendingthrough this opening is a generally vertically extending cylinder 12which is closed at its upper end but open at its lower end.

The horizontal leg of an inlet tube 13 extends through the side wall ofthe cylinder 12, at the upper end thereof. The tube 13 is formed withtwo elbows in order that the inlet tube 13 may terminate in a verticalleg within the cylinder 12. Thus, the direction of flow of the exhaustgases entering the inlet tube 13 is translated from horizontal tovertical. A flange 14 is suitably secured to the outer end of thehorizontal leg of the inlet tube 13 and the flange 14 is adapted formounting to the end of an exhaust pipe of a prime mover.

A pair of vertically spaced cylindrical bafile plates 15 and 16 aredisposed within the cylinder 12 and are secured at their outerperipheries to the inner periphery of the cylinder 12. The lower plate15 is formed with a central opening 17 which is secured to the lower endof the vertical leg of the inlet tube 13. The upper plate 16 is formedwith a central opening 18 through which cxtends the vertical leg of theinlet tube 13.

The plate 15 is provided with a plurality of small openings l9 and theplate 16 is formed with a plurality of small openings 2%. The axes ofthe openings 19 and 20 are misaligned for a purpose to be discussed morefully hereinafter.

A horizontal, circular, fiat, deflector disc 21 is suspended verticallybelow the lower end of the vertical leg of the inlet tube 13 by means ofa horizontal strap member 22 which is secured at its ends to the innerperipheral wall of the cylinder 12.

A horizontal tube 23 is secured to the side of the cylinder 12, at theupper end thereof, and communicates with the interior thereof.

An opening 24 is formed in the cover member 11 and a cooling liquid,such as water, is poured through the opening 24 for partially fillingthe mufiler housing 10. The liquid poured into the mufier housing 10 isfree to rise in the cylinder 12 and the liquid therein assumes a levelcommon with the level of the liquid in the housing ill). The level ofthe liquid is maintained slightly below the position of the deflectordisc 21.

in the operation of the above described water mufiler of our presentinvention, exhaust gases are admitted to the horizontal end of the inlettube 13. The exhaust are then conducted through the inlet tube 13 anddirected toward the upper surface of the deflector disc 21. Thedeflector disc 21 has the eflect of swirling the gases about the lowerend of the cylinder 12 across the top of the liquid confined therein.The hot gases, con tacting the surface of the liquid, are cooled, afterwhich the gases are permitted to pass upwardly through the misalignedopenings 19 and 20, in the plates 15 and 16, and hence through the exittube 23. The misaligned openings 19 and 2t) serve to diffuse the cooledgases before the latter are discharged through the exit tube 23.

The mufiler of our present invention meets the fourhour underwritingtest of maintaining surface temperatures of the exhaust gases below amaximum of C. (347 F.) as required of mufilers incorporated withindustrial equipment.

it is to be noted that the cross-sectional area of the rectangularrnufiler housing 10 is quite large when compared with thecross-sectional area of the cylinder 12. As a consequence, a high ratiois maintained between the total volume of cooling liquid and the surfaceof the liquid exposed to the exhaust gases. Since only a small area ofthe surface of the cooling fluid is exposed to the exhaust gases, therate of evaporation of the cooling liquid is maintained at a minimum.'for 'the same reason, the rate of absorption of droplets of the coolingliquid by the exhaust gases passing through the muffler is maintained ata minimum.

' It isto be further observed that since the cross-sectional area of thewater exposed in the cylinder 12 is quite small, vibrations of themuflier housing 11 cannot create such large wavelets, in the exposedliquid surface within the cylinder 12, as to cause the liquid to bedischarged, during splashing, through the inlet or outlet ports of them'utfler. The deflector disc 21 not only serves to swirl the gaseswithin the cylinder 12 but also serves to retard gases and to preventheavy blasts of gases from impinging directly upon the water.

Now, while we have shown and described what we believe to be a preferredembodiment of our present inyention, it is to be understood that variousrearrangements and modifications may be made therein without departingfrom the spirit and scope of our present invention.

We claim:

1. In a muffler comprising a housing having cooling liquid therein, aninlet tube extending downwardly through the top wall of said housing, anoutlet tube, a deflector disc underlying said inlet tube in spacedparallelism with the liquid, and said inlet tube being adapted to directgases in the process of expansion toward said deflector disc whichcauses the gases to be swirled across the surface of the liquid at avelocity less than the inlet velocity of said gases and Without impedingthe expansion thereof preliminary to the gases being exhausted up-Wardly through the top wall of said housing via said outlet tube.

2. In a mufller comprising a housing having cooling liquid therein, avertical cylinder extending into said housing and having an open lowerend to permit liquid to rise therein, an inlet tube extending throughthe side wall of said cylinder, an outlet tube communicating with saidcylinder, a deflector disc interposed between said inlet tube and thesurface of the liquid within said cylinder and being spaced above theliquid, and said inlet tube being adapted to. direct gases in theprocess of expansion toward said deflector disc which causes the gasesto be swirled across the surface of the liquid at a velocity less thanthe inlet velocity of said gases and without impeding the expansionthereof preliminary to the gases being exhausted through said outlettube.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein bafl'le plates are disposed withinsaid cylinder intermediate of the surface of the liquid and said outlettube for diffusing the cooled gases prior to being exhausted throughsaid outlet tube.

4. In a mufller comprising a generally rectangular housing havingcooling liquid therein, a generally vertically extending cylinderextending into said housing and having a lower open end into which theliquid is permitted to rise, an inlet tube projecting through the sidewall of said cylinder and hence vertically downwardly within saidcylinder, an outlet tube extending from said cylinder and communicatingtherewith, a deflector disc suspended directly below the end of saidinlet tube by means of a strap member secured at the ends thereof to theside walls of said cylinder, said deflector disc being arranged abovethe surface of the liquid within said cylinder, vertically spaced baffleplates secured to and extending radially from the vertical portion ofsaid inlet tube, and said inlet tube being adapted to direct gases inthe process of expansion toward said deflector disc which causes thegases to be swirled across the surface of the liquid at a velocity lessthan the inlet velocity of said gases and without impeding the expansionthereof preliminary to the gases being diffused by said baflie platesand exhausted through said outlet tube.

5. A muffler of the type employing liquid for cooling exhaust gases of aprime mover, comprising a housing, an inlet tube extending downwardlyinto said housing, an outlet tube, a planar deflector disc underlyingthe discharge end of said inlet tube and adapted to deflect and swirlgases in the process of expansion across the surface of liquid carriedwithin said housing prior to the exhaust thereof through said outlettube.

6. A muflier of the type employing liquid for cooling exhaust gases of aprime mover, comprising a housing, an inlet tube extending downwardlyinto said housing, a chamber means within said housing confining thedischarge of gases from said inlet tube, a deflector disc at the lowerend of said chamber means opposite and underlying the discharge end ofsaid inlet tube, an outlet tube communicating with said chamber means,said deflector disc serving to swirl expanding gases across the surfaceof liquid within said chamber means at a retarded velocity withoutappreciable decrease of the expansion rate thereof prior to theirexhaust through said outlet tube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,015,367 Richard Sept. 24, 1935 2,365,846 Seaborne Dec. 26, 19442,612,235 Schreeck Sept. 30, 1952 2,625,383 Baird Jan. 13, 1953 FOREIGNPATENTS 497,780 France Dec. 17, 1919

